Air pollution or smoking: Which is the greater cancer risk?

Pollution

5 of 6

by Chuck Edwards

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I am not aware that any other state in our wonderful country does more to financially punish smokers with exorbitant taxes on all things smoke-able (all, but the California cash crop of ages, marijuana - yet) with which they turn into clever television ads aimed at the youths of the State to stave the tide of cigarette smoking.

Californians are forbade from smoking in virtually any place where another human being may sit, stand or walk; the exception being one's personal residence (not yet anyway)for fear of second-hand smoke. Not a bad start, especially if you're a cocktail server or a performing musician who works in such former smoke-filled establishments.

Now, as such a musician, I can step outside my smoke-free workplace only to have my lungs assailed from the diesel smoke of a Municipal Bus or a choking 1982 Chevy Malibu held together with duct tape.

Due to our love affair of the personal freedom to go anywhere our wallet will let us drive, there are almost as many automobiles as people in the United States. The U.S. Department of Transportation, from a study done in 1995, suggests that there are approximately 1.7 cars per household in the United States.

We just love to drive; anywhere. In fact driver's licenses are held in regard more as a right than a privilege, so we buy cars, trucks, ATV's, motorcycles, motor-powered bikes, even motor-powered skateboards, to live out our personal mobility.

Add into the mix the number of trucks used to oil the wheels of commerce, the number of manufacturers who have not moved their operation to Mexico or China, the weekend lawn-warriors with four and two-stroke engine mowers, trimmers, and blowers, we get a nasty cacophony of air-borne particulate matter that makes cigarette smoke pale in comparison.

Kind of makes me want to stay home, close all my doors and windows, turn on my air purifier and light up a smoke. I might just be better off.

In the name of all things healthy, we, as a people, should take inventory of what we have and what then we are willing to give up. In the terms of numerical superiority, there are fewer smokers than automobiles and factories, so a greater good will come from even a small reduction in emissions from either. It's a start.

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